Selective gathering and collating machine



April 8, 1958 w. H. FRANZMANN SELECTIVE GATHERING AND COLLATING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed July 11, 1950 INVENTQR. WILLIAM H. FRANZMANN ATTORNEY A ril 8, 1958 w. H. FRANZMANN SELECTIVE GATHERING AND COLLATING MACHINE y 11, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Jul -ATTO NE A ril 8, 1958 w. H. FRANZMANN 2,829,886

SELECTIVE GATHERING AND COLLATING MACHINE Original Filed July 11, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I FIG. 4

INVENTOR. WILLIAM H. FRANZMANN A ril 8, 1958 w. H. FRANZMANN 2,829,886

SELECTIVE GATHERING AND COLLATING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed July 11. 1950 United States Patent SELECTIVE GATHERING AND ODLLATING MACHINE William H. Franzmann, Hamilton, Ohio, assignor to The Hamilton Tool Company, Hamilton, Ohio, 2 corporation of Ohio Original application July 11, 1959, Serial No. 173,139, now Patent No. 2,766,984, dated October 16, 1956.

Divided and this application October 1, 1954, Serial 4 Claims. (Cl. 270-40) ing, another for collating.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device having the hereinabove described characteristics and which includes simple, yet highly effectively means for imparting Another object of the invention is to provide a cut-oii element which is constructed and arranged in such a manner as to provide many years of trouble-free service, and which is spring-loaded in such a manner as to automatically compensate for wear. a

A further object of the invention is to teach a method of gathering in consecutive order a plurality of individual sheets which have been printed on several long continuous strips in a more than one around method, as the term is used in the printing art.

These and other objects are attained by the means dei scribed herein and as ings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a device embodying the teachings of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top elevation of the device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the feeding table conveyor and cut-01f mechanism of the combination collating and gathering portion of the device.

"Fig; 4 is a left end view of the cut-off element actuating-mechanism of'Fig. 3.

"Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken through the reversing mechanism of the feeding-table conveyor.

"Fig. 6 is a schematic view of the intermittent drive mechanism for the delivery conveyor of the combination gathering and collator mechanism which comprises .a detail of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a front plan view of a cut-off knife assembly comprising a detail of the present invention.

. .Fig. 8 is an end view taken from the right side of Fig. 7 showing the knife assemblyin a fully raised, inoperative position.

disclosed in the accompanying draw- 2,829,886 Patented Apr. 8, 1958 Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 disclosing the knife assembly in a lowered, operative position.

Fig. 10 is a schematic side view illustrating a typical one around method.

Fig. 11 is a side schematic view of the left end of the device of Fig. 1 when used as a gathering machine.

Fig. 12 is a side schematic view of a gathering operation illustrating the relationship of the aligned sheets immediately preceding the cut-off knife at the moment of sever ance of a previous group ofsheets therefrom.

With particular reference now to Figs. 1 and 2, the

for providing a capacity.

and strip feeding device for delivering aligned, superposed strips of material to devices which will perform any one of three entirely different operations thereon, viz., folding, collating or gathering. Heretofore a separate having a set of teeth 90 and a second Shaft 94 will. other of its op loaded ball 98 which when seated in o.

seated in annular groove 102 and sprocket wheel '76 will in the same direction as drive gear 60 through shifter gear 83, teeth 92 of which will engage teeth 93' of gear 72 to which-the sprocket Wheel is fixedly secured. When the shifter shaft, yokeand gear have been moved to the right for disposing ball 98 in annular groove 10d teeth 90 of the shifter gear will engage teeth 91 of gear 82, thereby rotating said gear and sprocket wheel 80 in an opposite directionto the direction'of rotation of drive gear 60. The rotary motion of sprocket wheel 80 is transmitted to sprccket'wheel via a sprocket chain, not illustrated, sprocket wheels 78 and gear 72, thereby providing simple yet effective means for reversing the direction of travel of conveyor 32. v

In Figs. 3 and 5 the numeral 164 denotes a sprocket wheel for driving slitter 106, and sprocket wheel 108, it being noted that these knives may be geared whereby to rotate in unison. The peripheral speed of knives 50 will be considerably greater than the linear rate of travel of the conveyorby reason of the difference in diameter of sprocket wheelslti-t and In the preferred embodiment of the invention a rotatable member in the form of brush 110 transversely spans strip support 30 for engaging strips advanced over said support in such a manner as to yieldably maintain said strips in contact with the support while simultaneously drawing or advancing said strips along said support.

As best disclosed in Fig. 3 conveyor 32 terminates short of the slitter knives 50. A leaf plate 112, inclined asv illustrated, is provided for automatically lifting the l3iing portions of the strips of record material for disengaging or withdrawing projections 34 from the spaced openings 36 without disturbing the alignment or registry of the superposed record strips 24 which are thereby transferred onto a higher elevation 31 of the feed table or strip support 30.

In order to insure positive tensions on the composite web of superposed strips after leaving the conveyor, a cylinder 114 is rotatably journaled in vertical alignment with member 110 which preferably is rotated faster than the cylinder through sprocket wheels 116 and 118 and chain 129, whereas the cylinder may be driven through sprocket wheels 122, 124 and chain 126, as illustrated.

A reciprocable knife assembly is provided at the left discharge end of support 30 for severing into individual sheet size the continuous lengths of strip material fed thereto. The knife assembly comprises a shear plate 128, disposed transversely of support 30, having a cutting edge 130, Figs. 7, 8 and 9. A knife element 132 having an inclined cutting edge 134, the lower end of which terminates in a downwardly projecting portion 136 is mounted for reciprocating motion between guide elements 138, Fig. 3, in response to movement of actuator rod 140 suitably secured to a knife actuator. member 142 to which that end of the knife remote from cutting edge 134 is pivotally mounted, as at 144. Suitable means, such as, by way of example, a spring 148, interposed between that portion 146 of the knife beyond its pivotal axis and an abutment plate 150 secured to and carried by member 142, may be employed for normally and yieldingly urging the lower portions of the knife in contacting or abutting relationship with cutting edge 130 of the shear plate, thereby insuring an optimum operating relationship between the knife and shear plate.

In order to momentarily stop the continuous forward motion of the continuous strips being fed to the knife assembly incident to and during those periods of time when the knife is in the lowered, operative, strip-severing position of Fig. 9, a holding blade 152 is provided for contacting and engaging the strip material immediately preceding the knife. If desired, blade 152 may be mounted between adjacent faces of knife 132 and actuator member 142 for sliding movement relative to each. A spring 154 may be interposed between the upper face of the blade and the upper horizontal leg 156 of member 142 for normally and yieldably urging the lower edge 158 of the blade below cutting edge 134 of knife 132 when it is in the raised, inoperative position illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. The maximum relative movement between the holding blade and member 142 is a function of and determined by the relationship of slots 160 in said member and interfering elements 162 secured to the blade and dimensioned to slidably engage said slots.

As knife element 132 is lowered on a cutting cycle the lower edge 158 of the holding blade will clampingly engage the strip material and stop its forward motion before the cutting edge of the knife engages the material. As the knife is raisedafter a cutting operation knives 50 via sprocket chain wherein said sheets the holding blade will be elevated thereby freeing or releasing the strip material to be advanced beneath the nife.

Since the strip material is continuously fed or advanced over support 30 and thence under continuously rotating members 110, lowering of the holding blade into contacting relationship with web or strips of material 164 will result in the formation of a loop 166, Fig. 12. To insure uniformity of cut-off lengths, I provide meansclosely adjacent the knife assembly for accelerating the looped portions 166 of the web or strips forwardly over shear plate 128 immediately upon release of the holding blade, thereby removing the loop. I have obtained uniformly excellent results in those'instances wherein a second high speed rotatable member 168 is mounted transversely of support 30 at a location closely adjacent the knife assembly, such as at the leading edge of shear plate 123, see Figs. 2, 3, 11 and 12. This member may be driven by rotatable element by means of a chain drive 170.

With particular reference to Figs. 3 and 12, it will be observed that the high speed rotatable member 168 is mounted above or in spaced relationship with the mean plane of the discharge end of the strip support by a dimension in excess of the overall thickness of the web or superposed layers of strip material 164 so as to be out of contact therewith during those periods of time when the material is normally and continuously being advanced over its support. However, when the normal forward movement of the material is interrupted insident to actuation of the knife assembly the rotatable members 110 and 168 will define the opposite ends of the resultant loop 166 formed in the material.

Rotatable member 110 will continuously and automatically maintain the desired tension in those portions of the strips or web located between it and the discharge end of conveyor 32, whereas member 168, the outer per,- imeter of which is substantially smooth, will slippingly engage the forward portion of the web loop, Fig., 12 The moment holding blade 152 is released from contact with the web the rotary motion of member 168. will become effective to impart an accelerating force to the. forward end of the loop 166 thereby projecting the..ma-' terial comprising the loop forwardly of and-beyond the cutting edge of the shear plate thereby permitting the web or strips 164 to be once again fed forwardly over the shear plate at the uniform linear rate of conveyor 32.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have thus provided simple yet highly eflfective means for providing an intermittent movement to the forward portion of a continuous web which is moved at a uniformly continuous rate to the knife assembly.

The web or strips 164 are discharged onto a delivery conveyor, denoted generally by the numeral 180, Figs. 1, 2, 6 and 11. In those instances wherein the device is used as a collator for making record forms whichcomprise record sheets interleaved with transfer sheets, the delivery conveyor maybe continuously operated whereby to remove each set of forms as they are severed from the composite, multisheet web advanced across support 30.

In those instances wherein it is desired to gather in predetermined consecutive sequences a plurality of sheets have been printed in more than one around fashion by a rotary press on long continuous strips of material, it is only necessary to provide means for intermittently advancing the delivery conveyor and of correlating its feed cycle with the operating characteristics of the knife assembly in terms of the number of difierent sheets per roll.

With reference to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be noted that lower end of the knife actuator rod is journaled as at 184 to shaft 182 secured to and carried by crank arms 186 suspended from intermediate shaft 188 the ends of which are provided with followers 190 dimensioned to engage track 192 of a corresponding cam 194 secured to cam shaft 195. Intermediate shaft 188 is secured to and carried by rank arms 196 suspended from shaft 198 journaled to suitable support-brackets 200.

A rotary motion may be imparted to cam shaft 195 from drive shaft 68 through gear 202 of shaft 68, idler gear 204 rotatably mounted to bracket 206 and crank shaft gear 208 whereby knife 132 will be actuated each time a predetermined length of strip material, advanced by conveyor 32 also driven by shaft 68, has been fed be actuated but half as often as By selecting suitable gear ratios the cut-off lengths may be varied as desired. i

In those instances in which the sheets to be gathered have been printed two around the feed mechanism illustrated in Fig. 6 may be utilized to actuate the delivery conveyor. Spur gear 212 having half the number of teeth of gear 214 is secured to and driven by cam shaft 195. A pusher rod 216 having one end journaled to gear 214 as at 218 has its other end journaled at 222 to crank arm 220 journaled to shaft 224 to which conveyor drum 226 is secured. A cured to arm 220 engages the 230 secured in driving relationship with drum 226 whereby the delivery conveyor 180 will be advanced one step every second cut of knife 132.

With reference now to Figs. and 11 the letters Q, R, S and T denote four rolls of strip material on each of which two sheets or pages of the set to be gathered are alternately printed. If, by way of example, it be desired to gather a pack of eight sheets, roll Q will have sheets 5 and 1 alternately printed throughout its entire length; roll R will have sheets 6 and 2; roll S, sheets 7 and 3; and roll T, sheets 8 and 4. In other words, the total number of sheets per group have been divided into two sets wherein one sheet of each set is disposed in alternate end-to-end relationship with a corresponding sheet of another or second set. The sheets of one set in the 8 page example, will be pages 5-8 inclusive, and the second set pages 1-4 inclusive, wherein sheets 5 and l, 6 and 2, 7 and 3, 8 and 4 are corresponding sheets, one from each set, which are alternately printed on rolls Q, R, S and T, respectively.

Strips from rolls Q, R, S and T are deposited upon and conveyed over support 30 in superposed relationship and with the individual consecutive sheets which comprise each set disposed in alignment. That is, sheets 5, 6, 7 and 8, which comprise one set, and sheets 1, 2, 3 and 4, which comprise the other set, are in vertical alignment. After the sheets of the first set (5 through 8) have been conveyed over shear plate 128, the knife is actuated for severing these sheets which are deposited on the discharge conveyor 180. The next set of sheets (1 through 4) are then deposited on and in vertical alignment with the first set of sheets after Which they are severed from their respective strips, thereby completing a pack or group of sheets arranged in consecutive order. The conveyor will thereupon be advanced so that the first set of sheets of the next group will be spaced in echelon relationship with the first group, it being understood that the conveyor will be advanced in a step-by-step manner each time the second set of a group has been severed.

While I have discussed and illustrated the manner of gathering sheets printed in two around relationship, it must be clearly understood that three around or even four around strips may be gathered by properly adjusting the knife cycle and correlating the delivery con- 6 veyor drive mechanism to operate once every third or fourth stroke of the knife.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the structural details of the device, within the scope of theappended'claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for continuously delivering in registry a pluralityof superposed strips of material to a reciprocating cut-off knife, said machine including a strip supadvancing said strips in registry along said support, a cut-off assembly including a shear plate and a reciprocable cut-off knife of said strip support,

rotatable member transversely spanning said machine closely adjacent said cut-off assembly and spaced from the plane of said support rupt the forward motion of said strips incident to and during actuation of said knife to a cut-off position, said rotatable members defining the opposite ends of a loop formed in said strips incident to interruption of its forward movement, means member at a peripheral removing said rotatable members, means for imparting a reciprocatory motion to said knife and and said stri engaging means, and means for driving said first mentioned rotatable member at a peripheral speed sufficient to continuously maintain a predetermined tension on said strips.

2. A machine for continuously delivering in registry a plurality of superposed strips of material to a reciprocating cut-ofl knife, said machine including a strip supadvancing said strips in registry along said support, a cut-01f assembly including a shear plate and a reciprocable cut-01f knife disposed beyond the discharge end of said strip support,

strips incident to and during actuation of said knife to cut-off position, said rotatable members defining the opposite ends of a loop formed in formed between said rotatable members, means for imparting a reciprocatory motion to said knife and said holding blade, a delivery conveyor for receiving sheets severed by said cut-off knife, and means for imparting an intermittent motion to said conveyor after every second actuation of the cut-off knife.

3. A device as called for in claim 2, wherein the first rotatable member comprises a brush, and wherein the second rotatable member comprises a smooth cylinder.

4. A machine for continuously delivering in registry a plurality of superposed strips of material to a 'cut-ofli knife, said machine including a strip support, means for feeding strips of material in superposed relationship onto said support; means for continuously advancing said strips in registry along said support, a cut-off assembly including a shear plate and a cut-off knife disposed beyond the discharge end of said strip support, a rotatable member transversely spanning said support for slippingly butcontinuously engaging and advancing said strips under uniform tension along said support, a second roi tatable member transversely spanning said machine in advance'ofand closely adjacent said cut-off assembly and spaced fromthe plane of said support by a dimension in excess of the over thickness of said superposed strips, a

holding blade in advance of said knife to engage and interrupt the forward motion of said strips incident to and during actuation of said knife to cut-off position, said rotatable members defining the'opposite ends of a loop formed insaid strips incident to interruption of its forward movement by said holding blade, means for driv-- ingsaid rotatablememb'ers at peripheral speeds in excess of the" normal continuous rate of lineal travel of said strips over said support, the second rotatable member slippingly but' continuously engaging said strips only when 'a loop is formed therein for accelerating said strip forwardly incident to release of said holding blade for removing the" loop formed between said rotatable members, 'means for actuating said knife and said holding blade,aa delivery'conveyor for receiving sheets severed by said cut-0E knife, and means for imparting an intermittent motion to said conveyor in timed relation with the cutting cycle of said knife.

References'Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 399,659 Firm Mar. 19, 1889 2,260,601 Brenn Oct. 28, 1941 2,480,781 Simpson Aug. 30, 1949 2,613,077 Smith Oct. 7, 1952 

